Sycophants

On Friday, when Minnesota had 14 cases of the virus, Governor Walz announced schools would remain open because health care workers needed daycare so they could go to work and fight the virus.
 On Sunday, when Minnesota had 35 cases of the virus, Governor Walz closed the schools except for children of health care workers who need daycare so they can go to work to fight the virus.  Everybody else’s kids, stay home. But not to halt the spread of the virus – no, it’s to give administrators time to figure out how to teach kids who aren’t in school. 

Basically, this is another “in service” week, when teachers and administrators try to recreate the wheel that Phoenix University already invented, what every home-schooled parent already uses: distance learning.

Now.  In the middle of the pandemic.  Now, you start thinking about the possibility of doing something different.  Now, after all those years of criticizing and belittling home-schoolers as ignorant and fearful racists, afraid their kids will catch cooties from The Other; now, you’re adopting their methods without admitting they were right all along.

And the Twin Cities media praised keeping the schools open as bold leadership on Friday; and praised the decision to close the schools as bold leadership on Sunday; without ever mentioning the two decisions made two days apart are completely contradictory.

Here’s an alternate possibility.  St. Paul teachers were on strike last week.  If the governor had closed the schools, they wouldn’t have been paid.  So they quick settled the strike and now they’re back to work at full pay when the schools close.  Lucky for them, they settled.  Almost as if they were tipped off.

Joe Doakes

The DFL and the Teachers Union…connected?

Say it isn’t so!

That’d be like saying “progressive” journalists had a sub rosa agenda or something.

And that’s just crazy talk.


4 thoughts on “Sycophants

  1. My brother in law and sister in law are home schooling my 9 year old niece as she is off from EP schools. A parent on my niece’s soccer team, home schools her children and has provided the study materials, which are state approved curriculum to them and several other parents on the team.

    I suspect that, these parents will find it a rewarding experience, most importantly because of the extra time they are spending with their children, but it may also change some opinions on home and/or charter schooling.

    Education Minnesota’s hacks must be pacing the floor and chewing their nails over their potential loss of control.

  2. bosshoss429, my cousin and his wife decided they wanted lots of kids, so they planned.

    Since they were born, his wife has home schooled their 7 (yes 7) kids.

    The kids are not living in a bubble, either. They’re tapped into a vast homeschool network that cooperatively provides field trips, special social events, sports and best practice assistance.

    They all test way above their grade level; the oldest is preparing for college in 2 years. And they’re a pleasure to be around, btw.

    Like you, I think folks who get a taste will like it, and I expect to see a real surge in himeschooling.

  3. Another random thought on Covid-19. We know who the most vulnerable people are. They are not school children, sports fans, spring breakers, bar customers. They are the elderly, nursing residents, assisted living residents. So build a wall of protection for them. Provide shopping, health care and other services they can access by not leaving home. We are crashing our economy by hobbling its most productive members. Maybe next pandemic we’ll figure it out.

  4. “We are crashing our economy by hobbling its most productive members:

    Not sure about the “we”, golfdoc, but do you think this is unintended?

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